


Competition over Christmas

by 0anon0



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-07-27
Packaged: 2017-12-03 05:53:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/694899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0anon0/pseuds/0anon0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six Gryffindors are stuck at Hogwarts over the holidays. Quickly they get bored of just playing Wizard's Chess or Exploding Snap. Not even a game of Quidditch can cheer them up for long. So they start a competition - just for the six of them, just for the Christmas break. Who will win?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the world. Read at your own peril.
> 
> Note: Characters are written as older than 18 years of age.

The Christmas holidays had come round again, and people were packing their bags to return home for the holidays. Only a few Gryffindors were staying. Harry and Ron were the only third years remaining. Hermione was going home for Christmas, but seeing the number of books she was taking with her, Harry and Ron doubted her parents were going to see her much. Out of the Weasleys, Fred and George were also staying, if only to stay away from Percy for a few weeks. The only other people staying were the twins' friend, Lee Jordan, and a boy the year above Harry and Ron called Cormac McLaggen.

Monday morning dawned, and the sun shone weakly through the common room windows. All six boys who'd stayed behind were lounging round the common room. Harry and Ron were playing Wizard's Chess, while Cormac was looking on. Cormac constantly gave the younger boys advice on how to play and boasted about how good a chess player he was. (When Cormac later played Ron in chess, Ron won in ten moves.) Fred and Lee were playing Exploding Snap, while George was staring out the window.

"I'm bored", said George, suddenly. "There's still another two weeks and there's already nothing to do!"

"We could play a game", suggested Fred. "One of those long games with challenges and stuff like that. We can all play."

"We could make it a competition", Lee added. "Everyone has to complete a number of challenges, and whoever can complete them the best before everyone else gets back in two weeks wins."

"Not a bad idea", said George.

Harry and Ron looked at each other. Anything that was planned by Fred and George would be problematic at best. But there was still nothing to do, except for all the homework and reading that they promised Hermione they would do. Anything to avoid that!

"Alright", said Ron. "We're in."

"I'm so good at challenges", drawled Cormac. "None of you stand a chance." Harry and Ron looked at each other. They were starting to dislike Cormac more and more.

***

After dinner, the six boys returned to the common room. Fred ran up to his room and came down with a large goblet.

"Here's what will happen", he explained. "Each person will take out a parchment from the goblet. On it will be a challenge and a name. To complete the challenge, you must complete it in regards to that person. Once you are done, the writing on the parchment will change into your next challenge. I've put a spell on the parchment so they can't be read by anyone other than the person whose challenge it is, and the person will find themselves unable to speak about the challenge to anyone else. The goblet itself will keep tally of the scores. On the last night, it will reveal who has won."

"Definitely me", boasted Cormac. 

One by one, each of the boys reached into the goblet and took a parchment from within. Fred placed the goblet on the mantelpiece.

"Ok",' he said. "The game starts now."


	2. Prologue

Harry looked at his parchment and unfolded it. In neat, spidery handwriting he saw written ' _Target: Fred. Challenge: steal a pair of his underwear_ '. He looked around. There was a look of confusion on Ron's face. Lee looked thoughtful. Fred and George looked calculating. On Cormac's face, Harry could see a look of glee and excitement.

***

Throughout the next morning, Harry thought about how to complete his challenge. Luckily, he had his invisibility cloak. But he had never been in the twins' room before, so he didn't know where Fred’s clothes were.

Harry resolved to have a go at the challenge after dinner. While everyone else was entertaining themselves in the common room, he snuck up to his room and took out his invisibility cloak. Harry slowly walked up to the twins' room, without making a sound, and opened the door.

The interior was the same as his room – five four-poster beds were scattered around the room. Around three of them were heaped piles of clothes, belonging to Fred, George and Lee. But which pile belonged to which person. Harry took off the cloak and started to look at the piles, but try and he might, he couldn't find anything distinctive about them! Whenever he saw something that may have been Fred’s, nearly straightaway he saw something that may have been George’s or Lee's.

"I'll just guess and hopefully I'm right", Harry said to himself. "If I'm wrong, I'll come back another time."

Harry took a pair of briefs from one of the piles and put on his invisibility cloak again. And was just in time! Just as he entered his room, Fred, George and Lee passed the door to his room. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't caught.

Harry walked over to his bag and fished out his parchment. But the words hadn't changed. The parchment still read ' _Target: Fred. Challenge: steal a pair of his underwear_ '. He sighed in disappointment.

'Wrong pile!' Harry thought. 'But I'll go back now and see if I can get Fred’s underwear. At least I'll be able to see where he sleeps.'

Harry crept back up to older boys' room. Thankfully, someone had left the door ajar, so Harry could sneak in easily. The three boys were lying in their beds. Harry had taken the briefs from Lee's pile clothes, not Fred’s! He tiptoed to Fred’s bed and quietly took a pair of his boxers. Luckily he wasn't seen.

Harry then turned to Lee's bed. He wanted to return Lee's briefs. As Harry looked towards Lee, his eye caught movements under the covers of Lee's bed. He closed his eyes. Harry didn't want to think what was happening there. He took a step. The floor creaked. Loudly. All three boys sat up. 

"What was that?" Fred asked the other two boys.

"I dunno", replied Lee. He looked around the room suspiciously, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"It's probably Peeves", said George. "You know how he loves pranks. And he's always trying to get the best of us!" He raised his voice. "IT'S NOT FUNNY, PEEVES!" he yelled.

Satisfied that they had dealt with the problem, all three boys lay back down. Harry warily crept to Lee's bed, and dropped the briefs he'd stolen onto the pile. And with the utmost care, Harry left the room without incident.

He returned to his room. Ron was fast asleep. Harry thrust Fred’s boxers deep into his bag, and picked up the parchment. The writing had changed.


	3. Ron I

Ron read his challenge quickly. The parchment just said ' _Target: Lee. Challenge: get him to drink a one-day love potion_ '. Ron took a few minutes to think. This would need some preparation.

The next day, Ron decided to visit Hogsmede. During the holidays, anyone with permission to visit Hogsmede could go, so long as they signed themselves out beforehand. Ron bought some late Christmas gifts for his friends and family. His last stop was Zonko's Joke Shop, where he found the necessary ingredient to complete the challenge. ' _One-Day Love Potion_ ', Ron read. ' _Make Even Your Enemies Fall In Love For 24 Hours!_ ' And beneath it, ' _2 Sickles 4 Knuts_ '. Ron paid for the potion and returned to Hogwarts.

***

Ron's chance came that night during dinner. The six boys were sitting together at the Gryffindor table, and Ron found himself sitting next to Lee. Lee, Fred and George were caught up in a game of Exploding Snap. Harry and Cormac were arguing about Quidditch. So no one saw Ron stealthily poured the potion into Lee's goblet. Lee didn't suspect a thing as he drained the goblet at the end of the meal. Lee and the twins ran off as soon as dinner finished, and when Ron saw Lee later in the common room, he couldn't notice anything amiss.

When Ron went up to his room later that night, he checked his parchment before he went to sleep. However, the writing was still the same. 'I'll just have to see whether the potion's worked tomorrow', he thought, as he drifted off to sleep.

***

Ron woke up early the next morning, and wandered slowly down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He was the first person there. As he was digging into his bacon and eggs, he heard the doors to the Great Hall slam open.

"Ron!" he heard a voice call, and turned to see Lee running towards him. He barely had enough time to swallow his mouthful of food when he was caught up in tight hug.

"I'm so happy to see you!" said Lee, enthusiastically.

"Ummm..." replied Ron. He didn't want to seem rude, but he did want to finish his breakfast. But Lee didn't let go. Ron felt something hard pressing against his stomach. "Errr..." he began. "Is that your wand?" But Lee didn't reply.

Eventually Ron pushed Lee off him and continued to eat. Lee sat next to him to eat as well. Close. Ron felt that his privacy was a bit violated. Luckily that didn't last long. A few minutes after Lee entered the Great Hall, Cormac came down for breakfast. As soon as Cormac entered the Great Hall, Lee jumped up and gave Cormac a big hug. Ron gave a huge sigh of relief. He looked up to see a bemused look on Cormac's face. 'It seems like the potion's worked', he thought to himself.

Whenever anyone entered the Great Hall, Lee jumped up and gave them a long hug. Over lunch, Lee was professing his love to whoever would listen to him. Fred and George found this hilarious, and would lead Lee to people around the room for him to embarrass. Over dinner, Lee was making up sonnets on the spot about people. But by the time the Gryffindor boys had returned to the common room after dinner, Lee was back to normal. He found the whole incident amusing, and embarrassing.

When Ron returned to his room that night, he looked at his parchment. And sure enough, the previous challenge had been replaced by a new one.


	4. Fred I

Fred was annoyed when he saw his challenge – ' _Target: George. Challenge: get him to drink a polyjuice potion_ '. It wasn't that his target was his own twin brother. The issue was that Fred had to use up some of their precious polyjuice potion. Fred and George had had to acquire all of the ingredients (some of which weren't so common), and spend a lot of time perfecting the recipe. That, and the potion was really useful. At the very least, Fred had to think up a perfect time to fulfil his challenge to get the most use out of the potion. The other issue was that polyjuice potion had to be consumed pure – anything else added to it once it had been made caused the potion to be worthless and useless. But Fred knew the perfect person to turn George into.

***

Fred approached George after dinner. They were in the corridor just outside the Gryffindor common room, and the other boys had already entered.

"George", began Fred, "remember how we were trying to perfect that Dizzyness Drink for our Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?"

"Yeah", replied George. "Have you made any headway?"

"I think so. I added some crushed Flobberworm spleen. But you're going to test it."

"What!? No way! At the very least, we can both test it!"

"I thought of that! There isn't enough of the potion I made for both of us. Since I made the modifications, you have to try it. I'm really curious to see if it worked."

"Alright." George sighed in defeat. "Make sure to be on hand in case I collapse."

Fred handed the small brown bottle to George. George opened it and sniffed.

"Doesn't smell half bad", he commented, and then drank the potion in one gulp.

Straight away, George realised something was wrong. Once he felt the queasiness of transformation fade away, George turned to Fred. 

"You…" he began. "Polyjuice…" But he couldn't say anymore. "At least your spell's working", he said finally. "I'm so going to get you back for this!"

George looked very different from what he did before. To begin with, he was female. He had long blonde hair and a well shaped body. The hair came from a girl they had seen in London at the end of the holidays. Both Fred and George agreed that she was really good looking and took the hair, though they hadn't decided what for yet. 

Before George had the chance to find a quiet place to sit out his transformation, the portrait hole opened. Lee stepped out and saw Fred.

"I couldn't stand anymore of Cormac", Lee told him. "I needed a break!"

Then Lee spotted George, and Fred saw Lee's eyes widen.

"This is Linda", he said, before George could begin to explain. "She's from Hufflepuff in the year above us."

"Nice to meet you", said Lee, awestruck. George just have Fred an annoyed look.

"I'll leave you two alone to talk then", Fred said, winking at George. And with that, he entered the common room.

***

Around an hour later, George and Lee walked into the common room. As the two of them passed Fred, they each punched his arm. George scowled.

"What?" asked Fred, feigning innocence.

As Fred went to bed that night, he looked at his parchment, eager for a new challenge.


	5. Cormac I

Cormac was so sure of himself. 'I'll definitely win this competition', he thought to himself. 'There's no chance I'll lose!'

He took a look at his parchment. ' _Target: Ron._ ' it read. ' _Challenge: put a boggart under his bed._ ' 

'What a good challenge!' he thought. 'And I know just what to do!'

***

After some discussion with his professor, Cormac was allowed to take a boggart. Of course, Cormac told the professor he was using it to 'study' and to 'improve his skills'. The professor didn't have to know the truth.

The next step was to put the boggart in it's place. Cormac easily snuck up to Ron's room and after locating his bed, stuffed the boggart under it. And then he ran. Cormac had no desire to face  _his_  worst nightmare.

But Cormac didn't receive a new challenge. 'Ron must face it', he realised. He hoped that it would be soon. Cormac didn't like to lose.

Finally, after the boggart had not been disturbed for two days, Cormac had had enough. He thought about what to do... and then an idea struck him.

After lunch, Cormac surreptitiously followed Ron back to the common room. He had told Harry that he wanted to get some study done so that Hermione didn't get angry at him. Cormac followed Ron into the common room, and then gave a sigh of relief when Ron climbed the stairs to his room. When he entered the room, Cormac slammed the door shut and stood with his back against it. Until he heard a sign that the boggart had been seen, he wouldn't let Ron out.

***

When Ron heard the door slam, he spun around, and tried to push the door open. But try as he might, it wouldn't open. He took his wand out and said ' _Alohamora_ ', but the door didn't open. It wasn't locked. There was something holding it shut. Ron started to yell, hoping that someone would hear him and let him out.

Suddenly, Ron heard a sound behind him. It made him stop in mid yell. It was a sound that he most dreaded. Taps on the floor, of many feet. Ron turned around slowly. There in front of him stood a spider. Not just any spider, but an Acromantula, one of Aragog's brood that hid in the Forbidden Forest. It was two meters tall at least, and that was because it was walking on it's hind four legs, and waving it's front legs towards Ron. The spider was hairy – the bristles on it's body seemed like spikes. Ron saw the sharp pincers at the spider's mouth, with saliva... or venom... dripping from them.

Ron was too frightened to scream. He was too frightened to run. He was too frightened to move, even to lift his wand. He cowered on the other side of the room, next to the window, and just stared as the spider began to move slowly towards him, swaying as it moved it's large abdomen across the room. It was now blocking Ron's way to the door, not that he had the courage to run, anyway.

Then the spider stopped. It turned slightly towards the door. Then it vanished. In the spider's place stood a body, remarkable in that it had no head. The headless body staggered closer to the door.

All at once, it hit him. Ron knew what the creature was. He'd seen it before. It wasn't an Acromantula, nor any type of spider. The creature was a _boggart_. Suddenly, Ron had the courage. Not a lot, but enough. He took out his wand and strode towards the headless body. Before the boggart had a chance to do anything more than turn into the Acromantula, Ron held out his wand, and yelled ' _Riddikulus_!' The spider shrunk and it's legs fell off. He barely had time to smile weakly at it when it vanished in a puff of smoke.

***

When Cormac heard Ron yell ' _Riddikulus_!', he sighed in relief. The boggart had been seen. He took out his parchment and saw that the writing had changed. Satisfied, he left the common room for a walk outside.

When Ron tried the door next, it opened without resistance. No matter where he looked around Gryffindor tower he couldn't find anyone that may have closed the door. 'At least', Ron thought, thankfully, 'that wasn't a real spider!'


	6. Lee I

Lee was happy with his challenge. His parchment read ' _Target: Harry. Challenge: send him on a wild goose chase around the castle_ '. 'This will be a real challenge', he thought to himself.

By the time he went to sleep, Lee had thought of the perfect mechanism to complete the challenge. He would use the same system as the parchments they had gotten for these challenges – whenever Harry had completed part of the chase, the next instructions would come up. But now he had to think of a good object for Harry to find.

***

When Harry returned from breakfast on Wednesday morning, he saw an scrap piece of parchment on his bed. When he made to move it away, some writing appeared on it.

The words ' _You are missing something of value_ ' seemed to fade from the parchment.

"No, I'm not", Harry replied confused. This parchment must be some joke of Fred and George's. He reached into his pocket to get his wand to see if he could enchant the parchment to say other things. It wasn't there.

"Where's my wand?" Harry thought allowed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement on the parchment. The words had changed to ' _I told you so_ '. Then beneath it the appeared ' _You must go to the Restricted Section of the library_ '.

"No way. I'm sure I've just misplaced it." But no matter how hard Harry looked, his wand was nowhere to be found. At last he looked back at the parchment. 'There seems to harm to at least go and see if my wand it there', Harry thought to himself.

He took the parchment and made his way to the library. Madam Pince gave him a scowl as he entered. She also didn't believe his explanation that he wanted to look up something for class. Harry could feel her eyes on his back as he walked towards the back of the library. Slipping into an aisle, Harry sneaked into the Restricted Section. He walked down the aisles, but couldn't see his wand anywhere.

He took out the parchment. "It's not here", he told it. As he did, the writing changed subtly. The parchment now read ' _You must go to Greenhouse 3_ '.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to follow your instructions!" he told the parchment.

***

Soon, however, Harry found himself on the way to the greenhouses. He couldn't find his wand, and he kept having a nagging feeling that the parchment knew what it was writing.

Harry approached Greenhouse 3 cautiously. He had only ever been into the greenhouses during Herbology classes, and deserted, they looked creepy. Harry looked around, just in case one of the professors were watching. No one. He crept towards the greenhouse and opened the door. The building smelt like rotting plants. Which didn't surprise Harry. Who knew what some of the plants here ate?

Harry walked slowly towards the other end of the greenhouse. He made sure not to touch any of the plants. He didn't know if any of them would attack him. At the other end of the greenhouse stood a large pot with a leafy green plant sitting in it. Harry looked around, but, as he expected, he couldn't see his wand. He turned to leave.

As he was walking back past the plants, he accidentally knocked over a small pot with an ugly root sitting in it. The pot spilt, and the plant fell out. Harry suddenly recognised the plant. It was a mandrake. He remembered that just listening to a mandrake's scream was enough to kill. Without a backwards glance, Harry ran.

He continued running until he reached the Entrance Hall. In the background he heard the mandrake's call begin to rise. But he was far enough away for the call not to affect him. He turned back. Professor Sprout was scurrying across the lawn towards Greenhouse 3. Harry saw a pair of fluffy pink earmuffs on her head. He had escaped just in time to avoid her.

Harry looked again at the parchment. It now read ' _You must go to the potions classroom_ '.

"You just want me to study don't you!" Harry told it angrily. "First the library, then the greenhouses, and now potions. You're reminding me of my homework. Did Hermione set you up for this?"

But there was no reply. Harry sighed, and walked down towards the dungeons.

***

Luckily, the potions classroom was unlocked. Harry looked through the room, but didn't see anything that looked like his wand.

Thoroughly annoyed, Harry walked back from the potions classroom. He rounded a corner, and found himself face to face with Snape.

"Well, well, well", said Snape. "Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived. Now that you are alone in the school, you feel that you can go anywhere."

"I was just exploring! We don't have much time to do that during term."

"A likely story. Go back to your common room now. If I see you snooping around again, I'll take 50 house points from Gryffindor."

As Harry hurried back up towards the Gryffindor common room, he took a look at the parchment. He had had enough.

"Tell me where my wand is", he said angrily. The writing changed again, this time to ' _You must go to the Gryffindor common room_ '.

"Lucky", muttered Harry. "I was already going there. Otherwise, I'd just rip you up."

He entered the common room, and went up to his room. There, on his bed, lay his wand. Harry was sure that it had not been there before. 'Turns out this parchment was right', he thought to himself. 'But it did lead me in a roundabout way.'

On the way downstairs, he let the parchments drop to the ground. He didn't want to deal with it again.

***

After their afternoon Quidditch game, Lee returned to the common room. On his way up to his room, he saw a scrap of parchment. On it was written ' _Mission accomplished_ '. Lee smiled. He now had a new challenge to think about.


	7. George I

George’s challenge was fairly simple, he thought. He just had to pick the right time. When he looked at his parchment and saw written there ' _Target: Cormac. Challenge: make him be naked_ ', he was delighted! But he wanted to find the perfect opportunity to humiliate the arrogant Cormac.

***

George’s perfect opportunity came on Wednesday. It dawned cold and overcast, but it wasn't snowing. In the afternoon, the boys were sick of being stuck inside all day. The weather had improved, so they decided to run down to the Quidditch Pitch and have a quidditch match. Fred, George and Lee played against Harry, Ron and Cormac.

All six boys were big Quidditch fans, so the game was hard-fought. It lasted for most of the afternoon. Fred, George and Lee scored some early goals, but soon Harry, Ron and Cormac began to catch up. However, by 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Fred, George and Lee were ahead 340 to 220.

George flew around the pitch. He was looking for the snitch, and also keeping an eye on the Quaffle. George also watched Cormac. He decided that if he could, this afternoon would be the perfect time to fulfil his challenge.

Cormac flew fairly well. But occasionally, especially when he was carrying the Quaffle towards the opposing goals, he would do some fancy move (and sometimes nearly fall of his broom). While he thought that this made he seem a better player, it normally made him lose concentration and give the Keeper time to defend the goals. George also noticed that Cormac talked a lot. Although he should be playing the game, he would constantly stop, and yell some instruction at Harry or Ron. He even did this when he was carrying the Quaffle! Fred, George and Lee had used this to their advantage many times – this was primarily the reason that they were ahead. George also saw that Harry and Ron were getting annoyed at Cormac's patronising 'advice' and his flashy moves.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Harry dive towards the ground, towards a small, golden ball. The Golden Snitch. He turned his broom and pulled it into a dive too. George heard a yell behind him.

"What are you doing?!" he heard Ron yell.

Then George saw a red shape fly towards Harry. Cormac, it seemed, wanted to get the glory. George pulled up next to Harry and Cormac and looked at them. Harry had a look of concentration on his face, and was staring at the ground in front of him. Cormac wasn't even looking at the snitch. He was glaring at Harry.

'He doesn't deserve to catch the snitch!' George thought to himself. He flew his broom closer to Cormac's and tried to bump him off course. Cormac's head snapped around.

"The snitch is mine!" he snarled at George. George didn't even look at him. If Cormac wanted competition, he had it now.

The three boys hurtled towards the ground. Fred, Lee and Ron had stopped playing and were staring at what was going on below. George glanced at Cormac. He was now glaring at him. George smiled.

The ground got closer and closer. Then... SQUELCH!

Harry and George pulled out of their dive. Clasped in Harry's hand was the Golden Snitch.

Three red shapes hurled out of the sky. Ron flew at Harry. "We won! We won", he yelled.

Fred and Lee flew down also. Though they had lost the game, Harry and Ron's happiness was infectious. The boys started moving towards the changing rooms.

George looked around. Cormac was sitting on the ground, looking a bit dazed. George approached him.

"Are you coming to the showers?" he asked.

"Shut up!" said Cormac rudely, gnashing his teeth.

George turned and joined the others in the changing rooms to shower.

***

By the time that Cormac entered the changing rooms, George was the only one left in the showers. The rest had finished and gone upstairs. 

Once Cormac entered his shower stall, George put his plan into action. He took out his wand, and whispered ' _Accio Cormac's clothes_!' under his breath. Silently, the pile of clothes rose out of the shower stall and landed in George’s arms. George was pleased to see that Cormac's towel was also on the pile. As he left the changing rooms, George heard a cry come out from the building. Cormac had discovered his missing clothes.

George snuck the clothes into the Gryffindor common room, folded the clothes and left them in a neat pile on Cormac's bed. 'That will give him a nice surprise!' he thought to himself.

***

The five boys were sitting in front of the fire in the common room half an hour later when they saw the portrait hole open silently. Cormac was bright red. He didn't have one piece of clothing on him, except for a keeper's glove he was holding in front of his private parts. Ron snickered. Cormac gave him a fierce glare.

"What happened?" asked Fred mockingly.

Cormac mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that?" asked George, smiling.

"My clothes were stolen. I came out of the shower, and they were all gone!"

The other boys all laughed. Cormac tried to edge towards the stairwell leading to his room.

"Stay with us!" suggested Lee, laughing. Cormac shook his head and dashed up the stairs. Everyone laughed again.

George took his parchment out of his pocket. The words had changed. He smiled as he heard Cormac's yell of annoyance as he found his clothes neatly folded on his bed.


	8. Fred II

Fred's new challenge had some differences to his previous one. It said ' _Target: Lee and Cormac_ '. There were two people that were the victims... no, targets... of his next challenge. The challenge itself was more difficult. The parchment read ' _Challenge: get them entangled in Devil's Snare_ '. There were multiple challenges that Fred had to overcome in order to complete this. First of all, he had to find some Devil's Snare. He knew there was some in the greenhouses, but he didn't know where. And he didn't want to ask Professor Sprout where it was. She would just get suspicious.

The greater issue was getting both Cormac and Lee to wherever the Devil's Snare was kept. He couldn't ask both of them to come with him together. First of all, Cormac and Lee didn't get along (come to think of it, Fred couldn't think of anyone who got along with Cormac). That would make it more difficult for get them both together at the same place. Also, the others would want to come along. And though he didn't mind watching the others get caught up as well, Fred knew that Harry and Ron had faced Devil's Snare already, so would know how to get rid of it, and George was resourceful enough to escape, though he may also just leave the others stuck in the plant just for his amusement. At the very least, Fred knew that Lee never paid attention in Herbology. He was always too busy flirting with Alicia Spinnet to pay attention to what was happening in class. Fred wasn't sure about Cormac, though, but hoped that he would at least try and 'solve' the problem, and just exacerbate it.

***

Over dinner on Wednesday night, Fred got his first hint to help him complete his challenge.

He was sitting next to Harry, who was telling Ron about what he had done today.

Fred tuned in just to hear Harry say, "...and I only just escaped from the greenhouse before Professor Sprout came to repot the mandrake root!"

"At least there wasn't anything else there", Ron joked.

"Some Devil's Snare would have been quite annoying", Fred added.

Harry laughed. "At least there was no chance of that! Devil's Snare is only found in Greenhouse 6. I heard Sprout tell Snape that last week. I don't know why Snape needs some Devil's Snare, though."

"Maybe he needs to kill someone?" Ron said. "Devil's Snare is quite good at that. Remember when it nearly killed us in first year, Harry?"

"It nearly killed  _you_ ", Harry retorted, "because you wouldn't listen to Hermione! You should know she's always right."

Fred smiled to himself. He had gotten lucky, and he hoped that Harry's information was good.

***

The next morning, after breakfast, Fred decided to check out if Devil's Snare was found in Greenhouse 6. There would be no point in sending Lee and Cormac there if there was nothing to find.

Fred had never been in Greenhouse 6. There were no classes in there, and it seemed like this was where some of the more dangerous plants were kept.

He approached the building and tried the door. It was locked. Obviously. If something like Devil's Snare was kept in there, the professors wouldn't want it trying to escape. Fred knelt down and took a few wires from his pocket. Within a few minutes, he had picked the lock.

He looked inside. It looked like a jungle! There were plants everywhere, of every type. Luckily Fred had taken the initiative to look up what Devil's Snare looked like before he came.

Fred entered the greenhouse, and immediately felt the heat and humidity. But the interior was dark. There was no access to sunlight from above, and now, the only entry sunlight had was from the door. 'Perfect for Devil's Snare', he thought.

Fred closed the door behind him and took out his wand. " _Lumos_ ", he whispered. Fred didn't know why, but he didn't want to speak too loudly. This place scared him.

As soon as he closed the door, and no sunlight entered the building again, the plants began to move, as if they were alive. Fred didn't feel like they were out to get him, but some were swaying, although there was no breeze.

A few steps in, Fred stopped and looked around. He couldn't see anything that looked like Devil's Snare at the moment. He shone his wand into the gloom. Out of the corner of his eye, Fred saw movement. His head snapped towards it. Nothing. He tried to take another step forwards. He couldn't. Fred looked down at his feet. Some tendrils were entwined around his legs, and prevented him from moving. He had found Devil's Snare.

Fred shone his wand at the tendrils. They recoiled slightly, but didn't let go. It seemed that this light wasn't strong enough for the plant to retreat. It would do that only in sunlight. Fred tried to think of the spell to conjure sunlight. But nothing came to him. He felt the tendrils move up his legs, and some more reach out to curl around his arms. He gripped his wand tightly. At the very least, if he could remember the spell, he wanted to have his wand on him.

More and more tendrils of Devil's Snare wound their way around Fred, and still he couldn't remember the spell. It was on the tip of his tongue.

" _Lumos_...  _lumos_..." he whispered, but he got no further. By then the plant had gotten a good grip on Fred, and was covering most of his body. But at that point, a tendril shifted across his groin, and spell slipped from his mind. The roughness of the tendril made the blood pound into his groin, made him unable to think of anything but release, made him see stars...

But only for a moment. " _Lumos solem_!" Fred said in a loud voice. From the end of his wand came a bright beam of light as strong as sunlight on a summer morning. Fred immediately felt the tendrils of Devil's Snare shrink away from him. He had found the right spell. And not a moment too soon.

Still pointing his lit wand directly into the jungle, Fred backed towards the door. He opened it and stumbled outside into the weak winter sunlight, not as strong as the light from his wand but comforting enough in that the Devil's Snare would not be able to get to him.

Shaken, Fred returned to the castle to enact his plan.

***

The next thing Fred had to think of was a way to get Cormac and Lee down to the greenhouse without them realising that something was up. He wracked his brains but he couldn't think of anything that would work.

He sat during lunch in silence, and looked around the Great Hall. At the front of the huge room, the teachers were sitting eating their lunch. He saw Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick deep in conversation. Next to them, Professor Dumbledore was laughing with Professor McGonagall. At the end of the long table, Hagrid and Professor Sprout were admiring a small plant that Professor Sprout had in front of her. It was waving it's branches feebly at them.

Then it hit him. What's the best way to get people to go to the greenhouses? Get sent there by the Herbology professor!

Straight after lunch, Fred ran upstairs to the Gryffindor tower and wrote out two letters in his neatest handwriting. He just hoped that his plan worked.

***

After breakfast the next morning, Lee returned to his room to grab some work.

As he was about to leave, he heard knocking. He looked around. There was no one in the room, and the door was open. The knocking came again. Lee heard that it came from the window. He walked towards it, and saw a small owl flying there, being buffeted backwards and forwards by the wind. The owl moved closer to the window and tapped on it with his beak again.

"Ok, fine. You can come in", Lee told the bird as he let it in.

It let him untie the scrap of parchment from it's leg, then proceeded to fly around his head at high speed.

"Shoo!" said Lee, and swatting it back out the window.

He unfolded the parchment and read the short message scrawled on it.

_Dear Lee,_

_Could you please help me down in Greenhouse 6 this afternoon at 2 o'clock? I can give you some hints about your holiday work._

_Professor Sprout_

'What does she need me to help with?' Lee wondered. 'But I would like some help with my Herbology work. I haven't been listening enough in class.'

***

Cormac sauntered into his room. Another day where he didn't have to do anything! Cormac loved the holidays – he could do anything he wanted whenever he wanted.

Cormac threw himself onto his bed for a well-deserved rest. His eyes began to droop when he heard a sharp rap. Cormac's eyes snapped open and he glared at the window. Who dared to disrupts his slumber?!

There, on the windowsill sat a regal snowy owl. It gave Cormac such a withering glance, that he felt that he had no choice but to let it in.

The owl hopped into the room and extended it's leg.

Cormac looked at it. The owl stared back. 

When Cormac didn't do anything, the owl reached forward, and pecked him on his hand.

"Ouch!" yelled Cormac. "What do you want?!"

The owl extended his leg again. Now Cormac could see the parchment tied to it's leg. He untied it and the owl hopped back out of the room and into the winter wind.

Cormac opened the letter, and read the note inside.

_Dear Cormac,_

_You are my favourite student, and I'm sure that you will be willing to give me a small hand in Greenhouse 6 at 2 o'clock. You will be rewarded for your help._

_Professor Sprout._

'Why not?' Cormac thought to himself. 'It's not as if I have anything else to do this afternoon.' And then he threw himself back onto his bed to continue his nap.

***

If anyone were to be looking out of the windows and towards the greenhouses just before 2 o'clock on this Thursday afternoon, they would have seen a boy with orange hair run down to Greenhouse 6 and disappear behind it. Quarter of an hour later, another person wrapped in warm clothes left the castle and strode down to the same greenhouse. He opened the door and disappeared inside, closing it behind him. Immediately as the second person entered the greenhouse, a third person, also shrouded in warm clothes, left the building and hurried down to Greenhouse 6, and entered it.

However, there was no one looking out from the windows, and soon, a light snow obscured the tracks of the people who had gone down to the greenhouse.

***

Cormac opened the door of Greenhouse 6.

"I'm here!" he called loudly.

Cormac heard movement further into the building. He closed the door behind him and took out his wand. " _Lumos_!" Cormac called, arrogantly, and strode into the jungle that was inside.

Behind him a few tendrils followed him quietly.

After ten minutes, however, Cormac was getting worried. He hadn't found Professor Sprout, and he didn't want to get lost. He would have thought that he would have already reached the other side of the greenhouse, but... maybe it just took him longer to get past all the plants. The greenhouse couldn't be that big, could it?

From what sounded like far behind him, Cormac heard a shout. 'That must be the Professor', he thought.

"I'm here!" Cormac called again, and turned to retrace his steps back to the entrance.

He stopped short. In front of him, tens of hundreds of tendrils of a plant of some sort were hovering in mid-air not even one metre behind him. When the light from Cormac's wand fell on them, they shied away a bit, as if they were afraid of being caught.

"Hello", crooned Cormac to the tendrils, and, as if sensing his welcoming tone, they thronged about him.

"Whoa, whoa!" he said. "I need to get back to the exit." And he began to gently push his way through the tendrils. But this was hard work. The tendrils seemed to want to coil around him!

"You can hug me later", Cormac joked, "but now I need to get through." Cormac pushed at the plants harder, but they continued to coil themselves around him. Then Cormac realised what had happened. He was stuck. The plant had entangled him.

***

Lee entered Greenhouse 6 out of breath. He had hoped to be there promptly at 2 o'clock, but he had been delayed. He hoped that he would be one time. Then Professor Sprout would give him more help.

"Professor?" he called into the darkness.

In the distance, Lee heard a reply. He took out his wand and said " _Lumos_!" and hurried towards the voice.

Suddenly, Lee was confronted by a few plant tendrils. He looked at them suspiciously. He didn't know which plant it was, but he didn't feel like confronting it.

Lee took a step backwards. And tripped over another tendril that had stretched itself behind him. He fell onto his back. Before Lee had a chance to get up, there were tendrils gripping his wrists and ankles tightly. Lee tried to pull his limbs from the plant's grasp, but to no avail. No matter how hard he pulled, his strength wasn't enough to let him escape from the plant. In fact, the more he pulled, the tighter the plant held him.

Lee tried to think of a way to escape. Then he came up with an idea that just might work. He slowly moved his arm towards his head. When a tendril was positioned across his face, Lee suddenly opened his mouth and bit down. The plant tasted bitter, and some kind of sap was leaking out of it. But Lee didn't have time to react to this. As soon an Lee bit down on the tendril, the plant jerked all of the tendrils in opposite directions. The only issue with this was that some of those tendrils were still wrapped around him! His plan had backfired. Instead of being free, Lee was being held spread eagle by a seemingly vicious plant.

***

After a few minutes of useless struggling, Lee suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground. It was only the tendrils that were keeping him from falling into who knows what. Then the tendrils began to to quickly move straight, left, right, in circles... and soon Lee was completely lost.

'I hope that the plant doesn't just leave me here', Lee thought to himself. Or would have thought to himself, were he not so frightened as too what would happen to him.

Suddenly, there was a light in the distance. 'Someone else is here', Lee thought. 'I can get help!'

But there was no one who could help Lee. When the tendrils brought him to the other light, he saw that it was Cormac, who would normally be one of the least helpful people to have in a crisis like this, even if the tendrils hadn’t bound him as he was.

Cormac looked a bit surprised when he saw Lee. But then he laughed.

"Look how helpless you are," he teased.

"As if you can talk, tied up like that", Lee replied. "Anyway, do you have any idea how to get out of this?"

"No. I have no idea which plant this is, so I don't know how to fight it. And anyway, Herbology isn't by strong suit."

Lee sighed. It would be harder to get out then he thought.

"We'll have to think of —" Lee began, but stopped.

While the two boys were talking, more tendrils had appeared and some had released Cormac until he was tied like Lee was. Now, tendrils that were not holding Lee and Cormac in place somewhere floating above the ground has started to move across their bodies. Both boys were frightened. They didn't want to anger the plant. Who knew what it would do?

Lee felt the tendrils creep up his legs and onto his chest. He saw out of the corner of his eye one tendril reach up and grab onto the zip of his jacket. with one fast motion, it unzipped his jacket and (with a bit of tendril manipulation) dropped it onto the ground below. Lee could see that the tendrils had done the same thing to Cormac.

The tendrils began to spread under the boys' shirts. They began to massage their chests. Cormac had never felt something like that before. The tendrils were rough as they moved up his chest. Two began to circle his nipples, eventually gently pinching them. Cormac closed his eyes. It felt good.

In the back of his mind, Cormac heard a quiet pop, followed by another and another. He opened his eyes and saw that other tendrils were unbuttoning his and Lee's shirts. Soon, there were also dropped onto the floor, and all the boys had on their torsos were their Gryffindor ties.

The plant continued its action for some minutes, working the boys up into a frenzy. Then some tendrils moved down. First, they removed the boys' shoes and socks, leaving them barefoot. Other tendrils moved under their pants, winding around them. The tendrils made quick work of their pants, and soon the boys were left in their underwear.

Cormac felt some tendrils move under his boxers. He began to struggle. This was private! He didn't want the plants to go there. But there was nothing he could do. No matter how much he twisted and turned, the plants could easily keep him spread eagle, and the plants continued to intrude. Next to him, Cormac saw tendrils creep all over Lee's body, including his groin. Then Cormac forgot about what was around him. One of the tendrils had reached his dick. It wound its way up the shaft, squeezing as it went. Soon, Cormac was quite hard.

Next to him, the tendrils were having more difficulty getting under Lee's tight fitting briefs. The rubbing movement of the tendrils over his briefs had made Lee hard, but the tendrils had little room for movement. Eventually, enough tendrils had reached under Lee's briefs, and then with one pull, the briefs were pulled off him. Lee was naked. In embarrassment, Lee looked over and Cormac, and saw that the tendrils had also ripped off his boxers, and they floated down in tatters. Lee caught Cormac's eye. Both of them looked away hurriedly, ashamed of the other seeing them in this state.

But the plant was not prepared to keep them apart. Now that their clothes had been removed, the tendrils began to move Lee and Cormac until they were positioned that Cormac was directly underneath Lee facing him. The tendrils lowered the boys on top of each other, then other tendrils tied them together in place so that they couldn't move. The two boys lay still – forehead against forehead, chest against chest, lips only millimetres apart. Neither Lee nor Cormac had ever been this close to another boy before. The tendrils took both of the boys' dicks and held them together, squeezing them in rhythm. Lee could see Cormac's closed eyes, his flushed cheeks. Cormac could hear Lee's ragged breath, his occasional suppressed moans. Both boys were aroused, maybe more so than they'd ever been before in their lives.

Soon, Lee and Cormac reached their limit. With a moan both boys came, nearly simultaneously. Immediately, before the boys had time to recuperate, the plant separated them and covered them with tendrils. They both felt that now they going to be eaten by the plant (however that would work).

But before that could happen, a bright flash of sunlight came from one direction. The tendrils shied away from the boys, back into the darkness of the jungle, away from the light, dropping them onto the pile of clothes. Lee and Cormac took their clothes and ran towards the light. Through the blinding light, which was coming from the doors of Greenhouse 6, they saw the silhouette of a person. Then the sunlight switched off, and they exited the greenhouse blinking in the light and shivering in the winter wind. The person who had saved them was nowhere to be seen.

Lee and Cormac quickly put on their clothes again (sans underwear) and headed back up to the castle.

"Let's never mention this again", said Lee, without looking at Cormac.

"Yeah", replied Cormac.

***

Fred returned to the warmth of the common room. He took out his parchment. It now read ' _Congratulations on completing your challenges!'_  Fred smiled. It was good to know he'd done a good job.


	9. Ron II

' _Target: Harry and George. Challenge: get to swim in the lake_ '. This is what was written on Ron's parchment when he got his new challenge.

'Not so hard', he thought to himself. 'This barely even seems like a challenge! I mean, it will be a bit cold, but the most difficult part will be convincing them.'

***

The next day, Ron went to scout the area. And hit a snag in his plan.

The lake was frozen. Solid. Ron nearly kicked himself. Of course the lake was frozen! It was the middle of winter, in Scotland. Anything with water was frozen the second it went outside.

'I may just have to wing it', Ron decided.

Over dinner, Ron put his rudimentary plan into action.

"I've got an idea", he told the other boys.

"All by yourself?" teased Fred.

"Shut up, Fred", Ron muttered. "Anyway, when I went to put my broom away when we played Quidditch, I noticed that there was other equipment in the broom shed behind the changing rooms. I went there today, and I saw that there were around ten pairs of ice skates! We should definitely go ice skating on the lake tomorrow!"

"Isn't it a bit... dangerous", interjected Cormac.

"Awwwww, is widdle Cormac scared?" mocked George.

"And what about the Giant Squid?" Cormac replied.

"The Giant Squid couldn't hurt a fly", Lee exclaimed. "And the lake is frozen over. That's why we're going ice skating and not swimming, remember?"

"Fine", Cormac agreed sullenly. "But if anything goes wrong, I'm blaming it all on you."

"I'd be happy to take credit", George whispered to Fred.

***

Early the next morning, the six boys put on their warmest clothes and hurried to the Quidditch Pitch. Just as Ron had said, there were many pairs of ice skates in the broom shed, and soon, all the boys had a pair.

As they walked down to the shore of the lake, Cormac made sure to talk about his skating skills.

"I'm one of the best ice skaters in the country", he boasted. "I won an ice skating competition when I was younger!"

"Let's race then", George said. "You may be out of practice."

They got to the lake, and each boy put on their ice skates.

After a half an hour of reminding themselves how to skate, the boys organised a race. They were to race once around the lake. The first person to return, wins.

At the starting line, Fred and George gave each other knowing looks. They did not want Cormac to win.

The race started. Cormac wasn't lying. He was a good skater. He took an early lead, shooting forward from the start line. But the other boys weren't far behind.

Ron looked towards George. George was taking something light blue out of his pocket. It looked like of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, which was a strange thing for someone to be eating during a race. Maybe it gave George super speed?

But all George did was drop the light blue ball onto the ground. It camouflaged well onto the ice, but Ron thought he saw it streak ahead. Just as a precaution, Ron avoided that patch of ice. It was never good to get in the way of anything that Fred or George thought up.

After a moment, Ron saw Cormac slow ahead of him. Cormac looked around to see if anyone was holding him back. Nothing. Ron saw his puzzled face as he turned back and focused on the race. But Ron knew exactly what was slowing Cormac down. Attached to his skates was a light blue speck – George's trick.

Still, even with this unknown handicap, Cormac was in the lead, if only by a whisker. All the other boys were breathing down his neck. Any small mistake or stumble would cause that person to lose the race.

The boys rounded the far side of the lake. Cormac, Fred and Lee were starting to pull ahead of Harry, Ron and George.

Suddenly, Fred tripped over his own feet. He careened into Lee, who slammed into Cormac. All three boys slid across the ice, out of control, and fell into a heap.

"Get off me!" yelled Cormac, angrily. He struggled to get up, but to no avail. The three boys were tangled up with each other.

Meanwhile, George, Ron and Harry had slowed down to look at the pile of bodies. It didn't look like any of them were going anywhere soon.

"You cheaters!" Comac yelled. He seethed with anger. "I would have won if not for this. I  _deserve_  to win!"

Fred looked up and shrugged. He made no move to get out of this mess.

Ron, Harry and George looked up at each other. They had forgotten the race. As one, they turned and began to race again.

As they neared the finish line, George and Harry pulled ahead of Ron. All three were skating as fast as they could. Ron chanced a look behind him. Fred, Lee and Cormac had gotten up and were catching up fast. Now was the time for Ron to complete his challenge. He stealthily took out his wand and pointed it at the ice in front of them.

" _Diffindo!_ " Ron whispered. A flash of white, camouflaged by the sunlight reflected on the ice, left his wand. Then, with a huge  _CRACK!_  the ice in front of the boys split. Harry and George were nearly above the fracture zone, so fell suddenly into the lake.

But Ron had miscalculated. He was too close to the crack in the ice! Smaller fractures spread from the crack in all directions, fragmenting the ice under Ron's skates. Soon, he too was sliding into the lake. This was not what he wanted to happen. He turned to grab at the edge of the ice, but it was too late. There was nothing to grab onto. In the distance, Ron saw Fred, Lee and Cormac reach the fracture zone and stop. They tried to inch carefully around it to help the other three.

It was then that Ron felt something grab onto his leg. He heard yells coming from behind him, and turned to see Harry and George treading water. Then, the water was filled with pinkish tentacles. It was the Giant Squid. That was what was holding him! A second tentacle grabbed onto Ron, and with one big shove, Ron was flying in the air.

***

Nearby, Harry also felt his legs being held by the squid's tentacle. Unable to use his legs to keep afloat, Harry sunk into the water. Suddenly, another tentacle grabbed his waist and pushed him above the water. Harry gasped in the fresh air in relief.

Before Harry had the chance to recover from nearly drowning, the tentacle around his waist began to wriggle up and down. It would have been a bit ticklish if Harry had not undergone a near-death experience not five minutes before. The tentacle moved lower and lower and suddenly, it was rubbing against his crotch.

Surprised, Harry tried to pull away, but the tentacle just gripped him tighter. It was still wriggling up and down, but now in a very localised zone. Although Harry was now petrified, he still managed to get a bit aroused. It seemed that his body was on autopilot. He could do nothing but close his eyes. He was in the control of the Giant Squid, and all he could hope for was that everything would be alright.

Soon, Harry penis was at full mast. But the squid didn't stop his ministrations. After a minute, Harry groaned. He was so close! Not long after, he reached the point of no return. He felt his dick jerk as it released its cum into the water. Then there was a shove and he was no longer in the water.

***

George saw the tentacles before they caught him. He tried to swim away but before he got far, one of the tentacles reached out, almost lazily, and pulled him back towards him. George tried to pull the tentacle off him, but to no avail. The tentacle was too strong for him. 

Another tentacle reached up and wound its way around George's head, keeping it steady. George decided to take a risk. As the tentacle neared his mouth, he opened it, and then when it was close enough, bit down hard. The two tentacles holding him jerked. The one around his head slipped around his neck. By the time George had managed to loosen it (and allow him room to breathe), he realised that the other tentacle had accidentally slipped into his pants.

George felt the tentacle move around. He felt it grab the only landmark in the area – his penis. He moved his hands to remove the tentacle, but by doing so, the other one that had been choking him slipped over his arms and tightened. George couldn't move anything to help himself. He was at the mercy of the Giant Squid.

The tentacle pulsated around George's cock. He could feel the slimy skin rubbing some of the most sensitive areas of his body. He could feel the suckers on the tentacle suck at him. In a short time he was hard.

He looked over at Harry, who was next to him. He was also held captive by the Giant Squid. His eyes were tight shut – probably in fear. No help would come from him.

The movement of the tentacle on his penis brought George to the edge. And then... one more squeeze, and more sucker, and he came. All of a sudden, the tentacles contracted around George's body and he was lifted into the air.

***

Ron, Harry and George landed with a crunch at the same time onto the ice. Fred and Lee ran towards them and helped them up. They were soaking wet and covered in squid slime (which conveniently covered Harry and George's cum stains – no need for any awkward questions). Cormac was skating towards the finish line, but no one else was paying him any attention.

"The Giant S-S-Squid", stammered Ron, freezing. "It s-saved us!"

***

After a nice warm shower in the Gryffindor Tower, Ron checked his parchment. On it were some comforting final words: ' _Congratulations on completing your challenges!_ '. Ron put the parchment into his pocket, and climbed down to the common room, where Fred was politely explaining to Cormac that his win was invalid because the Giant Squid tried to eat his friends.


	10. Harry II

Harry sat on his bed and reread his challenge: ' _Targets: Cormac and Ron. Challenge: Get them to go into the Forbidden Forest._ ' This was going to be difficult. Not only was it against school rules to go into the Forbidden Forest, bur why would Cormac enter it with Harry and Ron? Neither of them particularly liked him, and Harry was sure he didn't particularly like them either. There would have to be some really good incentive... But try as he might, Harry couldn't think of anything that could entice Cormac to enter what was probably the most dangerous place at Hogwarts.

***

By Friday, Harry still had no idea what to do. He hoped that something would come to him, but nothing did.

Cormac had been (as usual) annoying everyone. This time, he had spent at least an hour regaling everyone about how he had single-handedly saved Ron, George and Harry from the Giant Squid. And as per usual, everyone else was sick and tired of this. Especially since they'd all been there when the event had happened, and especially when everyone had seen Cormac run the other way the second something bad had happened. In short, the pro-Cormac camp was empty tonight.

Finally, the stories were interrupted by a knock on the window. There, on the windowsill, sat a huge eagle-owl. The boys stared, afraid to open the window for it, but Cormac rushed to the owl.

"Athene!" he shouted happily and hugged the owl. Athene hooted and pecked Cormac on his head. "Ow!" Cormac yelled.

Cormac untied something from Athene's leg. "Off you go", he said, shoving her gently off the windowsill. Athene hooted again and flew off into the distance.

Cormac moved towards the stairs.

"What have you got there?" asked Ron, inquisitively.

"Nothing."

"Nothing is ever nothing!" Fred argued.

"It's nothing!"

But it was too late. Fred and George were interested, and were advancing on Cormac. Before Cormac had a chance to take more than two steps, one of the twins was holding him down, and the other had grabbed what Cormac had received from his hands.

Fred ripped open the letter. Out of the envelope fell a note and a picture.

"Give it back!" Cormac yelled, and struggled against George, to no avail.

"'Dear Cormac,'" began Fred adopting a high-pitched girly voice. "'I've been missing you so much while you've been gone. I was really disappointed when your parents told me that you weren't coming back from your school for Christmas!'"

Lee laughed. Fred cleared his voice and continued, "'I really miss all of the time we used to hang out together. Now, I barely see you at all! And your parents won't even give me your address so I can send letters directly there! I can't wait until I next see you. Love, Laura.'"

The boys all laughed. Cormac's face was turning redder and redder. "Give it back!" he yelled again.

Lee picked up the picture. "Awwww", he mocked. "Isn't she cute!" He showed the picture to the other boys. It was of a girl around their age with brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. However, it was a muggle picture – the girl didn't move an inch.

"Cormac has a muggle girlfriend!" Lee teased.

The boys laughed again, and George let go of Cormac. Cormac grabbed the letter and the picture and after giving the other boys an angry glare, ran upstairs.

***

Harry was woken the next morning by a loud scream. Harry sat up quickly.

"What was that?" Ron asked sleepily from across the room.

"Dunno", Harry replied.

Another scream came from upstairs. Harry and Ron jumped out of bed and ran up. As they reached the landing above them, a door slammed open.

Cormac was standing in the doorway, wild-eyed.

"Where is it?" he asked hoarsely.

"Where is what?" Ron asked back, confused.

"My picture!" Cormac yelled. "Where is my picture?"

"Calm down!" said Harry quickly. "We'll help you find it."

All three boys entered the room.

"I left it on my bedside table last night when I went to sleep", Cormac explained, "and when I woke up now it was gone! I've looked everywhere and I can't find it."

Harry and Ron looked around the room. But after 15 minutes of looking they hadn't found anything. They apologised to Cormac, and the three boys wandered slowly down to breakfast.

***

As Harry, Ron and Cormac finished breakfast, the post arrived.

"Oh good", said Harry over his last mouthful of porridge. "Let's see what they've put in the  _Daily Prophet_  today." He began to unroll the newspaper, but he was knocked over when Cormac suddenly stood up.

"Look", he said. Harry and Ron looked up and followed his pointed finger. There, at the end of the table, stood an owl. It was like any other normal owl, but around its neck ran a piece of string with a piece of paper hanging on it.

"It's my photo", Cormac continued, incredulously.

The owl gave a shrill hoot, and rose into the air. It began to fly towards the door.

"Wait!" Cormac yelled, and ran after the owl.

Harry and Ron sighed in exasperation, and followed Cormac.

***

Cormac, Harry and Ron burst out of the castle. In front of them, the owl was flying fast over the lawn. It flew over the greenhouses and disappeared from sight.

Cormac let out a roar of anger, and put on a burst of speed.

"I wish he'd slow down!" Ron panted, trying to keep up with Cormac. Harry didn't say anything. He had no energy to waste.

Harry and Ron followed Cormac around the greenhouses. The owl was now perched cheerfully on one of the branches of a lone tree in the middle of the grounds. Cormac charged towards it.

Harry paused to catch his breath. He looked up at the tree. Behind the owl, one of the other branches was swaying. Swaying... but there was no wind...

"Stop!" Harry yelled, desperately. "That's the Whomping Willow!"

But Cormac took no notice. He was now in the range of the Willow, and one of its thick branches whipped up out of nowhere, and hit Cormac in the stomach. Harry and Ron saw him fly up in the air and land in a pile on the ground. Harry ran to help him up.

"Ouch", Cormac moaned. But luckily, nothing was broken.

Within a few minutes, Cormac was up and ready to continue. He looked up at the owl in the Whomping Willow.

"You come down here at once!" he said, angrily. The owl hooted happily. The Whomping Willow waved it's branches in a vaguely threatening manner in Cormac's direction.

"That's it", Cormac yelled. He pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed it at the owl. " _Accio picture!_ " he chanted. The picture strained to go towards Cormac, but it was still tied to the owl, so it couldn't escape. The owl looked at the picture curiously and hooted. It then began to nibble on the corner of the picture.

"Aaaaarrrrggghhh!" Cormac screamed. " _ACCIO OWL!_ "

With a surprised screech, the owl flew off the branch towards Cormac. The Whomping Willow's branches whipped backwards and forwards but failed to catch the owl. With a thud, the owl hit Cormac full on, knocking him down again. But Cormac kept a firm grip on the bird, refusing to let his prize go for even a second.

"I've got you now!" Cormac said, triumphantly, to the owl.

But he spoke too soon. Another owl flew into him. Then another and another. It looked like the whole Owlery was attracted to Cormac. And it was His charm had not only summoned the owl on the Whomping Willow, but the other owls in the castle as well. Harry saw Hedwig hooting indignantly in the mess.

Cormac struggled out of the pile of owls. But he had let go of the owl he had been looking for. He couldn't even see it through the hundreds of owls flying everywhere.

Slowly the owls scattered. They began to fly back to their roosts in the castle. Except for one. The boys saw a small shape soaring towards the Forbidden Forest. A small shape with something even smaller hanging around its neck. Harry, Ron and Cormac looked at each other, and then without a word, they ran towards the flying owl.

***

The boys only slowed as they reached the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Even something that was this urgent didn't make the trees look less forbidding, nor make the shadows (of which there were many, even the morning winter sun) any less fearsome. But a hoot from within drove them on.

The boys all had their wands out by now. Wandering into the Forbidden Forest was no easy task. All three were scared that something would attack them. They heard the hoofbeats of a herd of centaurs cantering past. They could smell the rotten meat that Hagrid had left out for the Thestrals. Ron swore that he even saw a unicorn shimmering in the distance.

Soon enough, the hooting grew louder. Before long, they reached the source of the hooting. The owl – their quarry – was caught in a tangle of ivy. Harry could see that it had been struggling to get out, but to no avail.

Cormac moved forwards to grab his picture.

"I've got it at last!" he said in relief.

But as he put forth his hand to retrieve the picture, the owl hooted loudly once and bit him painfully on the finger.

"Ow!" Cormac yelled, dancing on the spot.

"Maybe you should be more gentle." Ron recommended. "If it's possible for you", he added under his breath.

Slowly, Cormac approached the owl. He put out his hand slowing, retracting it when the owl looked as if to bite him again, but returning it when there was no aggressive response. The owl hooted miserably, and Cormac patted it cautiously on its head.

When the owl still didn't try to hurt Cormac, he gently untied his picture from around the owl's neck, and then freed it from the ivy.

"There you go", he said, releasing the owl.

The owl flew around Cormac's head twice in excitement, hooted twice, and flew off into the canopy of the forest.

***

Harry, Ron and Cormac trudged quietly back to the castle. There didn't seem to be anything to say.

When they got back to the common room, Cormac thanked them, embarrassed, and rush up to his room. A few minutes later, Harry and Ron heard a sharp yell from upstairs.

"Not again!" groaned Ron.

But there was nothing wrong. Instead, the owl they had helped had returned, and was flying around the room excitedly, and blocking any attempts from Cormac to get it to leave.

Harry and Ron quietly crept back down to their room, leaving Cormac to deal with this problem by himself.

Harry smiled suddenly to himself. He had somehow completed his challenge with next to no effort on his part! This was the easiest challenge ever! He took out his parchment. On it, there was a new message: ' _Congratulations on completing your challenges!_ '.


	11. Lee II

Lee laughed out loud when he saw his next challenge. His parchment read ' _Targets: George and Fred. Challenge: Get them drunk_ '.

'This will be so easy!' Lee thought to himself. This wasn't even a challenge! Fred and George wouldn't even think to suspect anything! The three of them had been sneaking alcohol into Hogwarts and drinking it in the Astronomy Tower every Saturday night for over a year. Lee just had to make sure that there was a special treat for them on Saturday.

***

On Saturday morning, Lee sidled up to Fred and George.

"I've got a special surprise for our... meeting tonight", he said.

George's eyes lit up. "Oooh," he exclaimed.

But before George could continue what he was saying, a voice spoke up from behind them.

"What 'meeting' is this?" the voice said. Lee, Fred and George turned around to see Harry and Ron standing near them. "Why are you being so secretive?" Ron continued.

"It's a... study session", Fred explained, warily.

"Uh huh", said Harry. Lee could tell that Harry and Ron didn't believe them. "Fred and George are... studying?" he continued. "That seems a bit unlike them."

"That's because we don't want to spoil our reputation", George explained.

"What reputation?" Ron muttered.

"Oi! I heard that!" Fred said, giving Ron a soft whack on the head. "Let's go back to the common room", he told Lee and George.

As the three boys left the Great Hall, Lee overheard Ron mutter to Harry, "I wonder what they're up to..."

***  

That night, Lee, Fred and George hung around the common room playing Exploding Snap waiting for the others to go to bed. Finally, Harry and Ron, yawning, climbed the stairs to their bedroom.

The three boys waited a bit to make sure that the others didn't return to the common room, and then quietly exited the common room, closing the door silently behind them.

As they rounded the corner, George stopped the other two, suddenly.

"Did you hear that?" he whispered, urgently. "I'm sure I heard a noise from behind us!"

The boys listened intently and heard, very softly, the pitter-patter of steps.

"I really hope it isn't Mrs. Norris", Fred replied.

The boys stood silently for a minute, but couldn't see or here anything else.

"Let's move on", Lee said.

The three boys wondered back down to the Great Hall, and then down another flight of steps to the basement. They stopped in front of a painting of a bowl of fruit. Fred reached out and tickled a pear, which began to laugh, and transformed into a doorknob. Fred reached out and turned it. The painting swung inwards, revealing a large room the size of the Great Hall. Scattered throughout the room were clusters of house-elves. The minute that the boys entered the room, the Hogwarts kitchen, the house-elves rushed at them.

There was a rush of noise as the house-elves all began to talk at once.

"Welcome masters! Welcome to—"

"—and Chocolate Frogs and Fizzing Wizzbees and—"

"We have so much—"

"—and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and—"

"Enough!" said George, smiling. "Thank you for your hospitality. We'll just have a nice selection of snacks. Oh, and some bottles of Butterbeer, if you have any."

The house-elves ran around the kitchen, and returned, shoving all different kind of snacks into Fred, George and Lee's hands. Once they'd taken their fill, The boys thanked the house-elves, and walked back towards the door. The house-elves followed them back, talking in their high pitched voices. After a final thank you, the boys managed to close the door behind them. They stood in the corridor in silence, their arms filled with food. A coat of armour creaked down the corridor.

"Let's go", said George.

***

The three boys stood at the top of the Astronomy Tower. George took out his wand, pointed it at a trapdoor in the ceiling and whispered ' _Descendo!_ '. Immediately, a ladder materialised, and slowly descended until it was touching the ground. Fred, George climbed the ladder up to the attic above it.

"You coming?" Fred asked Lee.

"Hang on", Lee replied. "I'm just getting something."

Fred and George entered a small bare room. Thankfully, it was mostly covered by the slanting roof of the tower. But there were no chairs or other comforts. All there was in the room was a candle that Fred quickly lit.

Suddenly, a bang came from below. Fred and George leaned their heads over the trapdoor and looked down. Lee was standing in the middle of the room with his wand out.

"Don't worry", said Lee, sheepishly. He quickly put his wand away. He picked up a bag from the floor. "Hang on, I'm coming up."

 When Lee had climbed up into the attic, Fred turned to him expectantly.

"So?" he asked, impatiently. "What's this secret of yours? It's kept me curious all day!"

"This", Lee replied, triumphantly, taking out a bottle from the bag. He put it down in front of Fred and George. In the flickering candlelight, they leaned forwards to read the label.

_Ogden's Old Firewhiskey  
_

_est. 1578_

"Where did you get this?" George asked, wonderingly. "We've been trying for ages, but we haven't been able get this anywhere! No one will sell it to us!"

Lee smiled. "That would be telling", he replied, teasing. "It's a trade secret!" He took out three glasses from the bag, poured a bit into each one, and gave one each to Fred and George.

"Cheers!" he said, lifting his own glass.

***

Ogden's Old Firewhiskey is a famous alcoholic drink. One of the first brands of Firewhiskey, it is also one of the best known. The recipe is kept a secret, and no other brand has been able to fully duplicate that exact burning sensation as it goes done one's throat, that exact feeling of courage and recklessness with which it imbues even the most cowardly person and that exact feeling of searing pain (and occasional memory loss) that appears when one finished drinking (though this can be combated with a simple antidote). As such, Ogden's Old Firewhiskey can be difficult to acquire.

***

Soon enough, Lee, Fred and George were well and truly drunk. They were half lying, half sitting in the attic of the Astronomy Tower.

"Have some more!" Lee slurred at Fred. He tried to grab the bottle of Firewhiskey, which was now missing half of it's content, and missed. He slumped onto the floor.

"That was...  _hic!_... funny", hiccupped Fred. He started laughing, and leaned heavily against the roof. It creaked ominously, but the boys took no notice of it. Lee started laughing as well. He reached over, and this time successfully picked up the bottle. He poured himself another drink and sipped it slowly.

Meanwhile, George was looking out from a hole in the roof, over the Hogwarts' grounds. He turned back and saw both Fred and Lee lounging on the floor, laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked. There was no reply. Fred and Lee were too occupied laughing. George shrugged, and sat down.

A few more minutes passed. Fred and Lee finally settled down. The three boys poured themselves yet another drink.

"I need to pee", George announced, suddenly.

"Ok", Fred said. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Do you need help?" teased Lee. "Do you want me to hold it for you?"

"I'll be fine", replied George, sullenly. He stood up and walked back over to the gap in the roof. Without a moment's notice (and without any embarrassment) George dropped his pants and peed over the edge. He heard a wolf whistle come from behind him.

Down in the grounds, an owl, who had been enjoying a peaceful night flight, was frightened in mid-flight by a stream of liquid coming from above. Needless to say, it didn't fly through that part of the castle for a few weeks.

George finished his business and pulled up his pants again. He turned around and saw that Fred and Lee were starting to nod off.

"Oi!" said George. "Wake up! I'm bored." He kicked Lee. Lee opened his eyes blearily.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I'm bored!" George sat down next to Lee.

"So?"

"Do something about it!"

On Lee's other side Fred let out a huge snore. George laughed loudly.

"Don't wake him!" whispered Lee, angrily.

"Sorry, sorry", George replied, quietly.

A few minutes passed in silence. Then George turned back to Lee.

"Let's prank him", he whispered.

"What?" Lee replied, jerking awake again.

"Let's prank Fred."

Lee laughed.

"That'll be funny", he said.

Both boys stood up. George poked Fred with a toe. Fred didn't wake up. He just let out another loud snore.

"Let's draw on him!" said George enthusiastically. Lee took his wand out of his pocket and waved in the air. A quill and a bottle of ink appeared out of nowhere. Lee just managed to catch them before they dropped to the ground.

George giggled. He took the quill and inkbottle from Lee and drew a fancy moustache on Fred's face. It promptly twirled itself.

Fred then took the quill and wrote 'LOSER' on Fred's forehead. The writing began to flash different colours.

After a while of drawing whatever they wanted on Fred (in magical ink, of course), Lee vanished the quill and inkbottle. They surveyed their handiwork. Both, in their inebriated state, were impressed with themselves.

"Oh, I know", Lee said, excitedly. "Let's teabag him!"

George muttered something intelligible. He swayed slightly. Lee looked at him, and saw that his eyes were closed. Lee helped George sit down next to Fred. Immediately, George was as fast asleep as Fred. Lee frowned. He wasn't happy that both twins were asleep. He shook the twins gently. They didn't wake up. They didn't even move.

"Oi, come on guys", he begged. "Wake up!"

George muttered something under his breath. Fred moved a bit. Neither of them woke up.

Lee shrugged, giving up. He poured himself another drink and sat opposite Fred and George drinking.

"Fuck it", he said to himself, suddenly. "They deserve it for falling asleep."

He stood up and waited for the dizziness to stop, then stumbled across the room to where the twins were still sleeping.

Lee dropped his pants and shivered in the cold. Next, he stood over Fred and lowered his balls into Fred's partially open mouth. Lee sniggered. 'I can't wait to see their reaction in the morning', he though to himself. Then he moved over to George and did the same to him. Satisfied, Lee sat back down (after pulling up his pants) and finished off his drink.

***

Lee was awakened by someone shaking him. He opened his eyes and looked into Fred's face.

"What?" Lee groaned. His mouth was dry, and he had a splitting headache.

"We've got to get back to the common room", George, who was standing next to Fred, said. Both Fred and George were pale and looked slightly sick.

"One moment", Lee replied. He closed his eyes, but couldn't get back to sleep. He stood up walked over to his bag. He took out a small blue vial and took a sip.

"That's better", he said loudly. Fred and George winced. "Do you want some antidote?" he asked. Fred and George rushed over to him.

"What happened last night?", Fred asked, already feeling much better. "All I remember was climbing the ladder up here, and then waking up now."

"I don't remember anything, either", Lee said, puzzled.

"Me neither", said George. "Oh well. It's not like anything embarrassing happened." 

As the three boys quietly left the Astronomy Tower, they saw the sun beginning to rise over the forest. With a yawn, they returned to the Gryffindor common room for a nap before breakfast.

***

A few hours later, Ron opened his eyes. Light was streaming from the open window directly into his eyes. He wondered why he hadn't closed the curtains the night before. Ron looked around. He wasn't in his bed! Then the memories from the night before came back. He looked to his side and saw Harry.

"Wake up, Harry!" he whispered, urgently.

"I'll come down for breakfast later", Harry began, but then noticed, as Ron had, that he wasn't in his bed. "Where are we?" he asked Ron.

"Well", Ron replied, "I remember us following Fred, George and Lee last night to see what they were up to. They first went down to the basements and went into that secret room behind the fruit bowl."

"Yeah", Harry replied. "I think that was the kitchen! Remember, they came out with all that food."

"Yeah. Then we followed them up here to the Astronomy Tower. But I don't remember what happened then."

"I remember seeing the room empty with just the ladder. We took the cloak off..." Harry trailed off. "There was a bang. I'm not sure why, though."

"Maybe one of the twins found us and thought it would be funny to Stupefy us. At least they could have woken us up when they left!"

Harry and Ron turned and climbed back down the tower, back to their beds.

***

When Lee woke up for breakfast, he saw that his parchment was sitting on his bag. On it were now just a few words in fancy writing: ' _Congratulations on completing your challenges!_ '.


	12. George II

George didn't like his next challenge. His parchment read ' _Targets: Ron and Harry. Challenge: blackmail them into having sex_ '. Sex was something that he never wanted to imagine his brother doing, let alone have to watch. However, he desperately wanted to win this competition. Or at least, beat Cormac. As long as he did that, he would be happy. But he had a feeling that Cormac had completed at least one challenge already, and that meant that they would be at least even. So George knew that if he wanted to win, he had to go through with it. He read the parchment again.

" _...blackmail them into having sex_ ", he read aloud. "That means..." his mind did some quick thinking "...that they just need to have sex? But maybe... I should probably make sure..." George sat and though about the challenge for a bit. Maybe, just maybe, he had a solution that would make his conscience feel better about this.

* * *

Harry woke up early the next morning. He felt that someone had been in the room, but when he looked around, no one was there. Harry decided that he should get up and go to breakfast, since there was nothing else for him to do. He got dressed and wandered out of the common room and down stairs.

Halfway down, Harry felt that there was something in his back pocket. He took out the crumpled piece of parchment, and read it. His face paled. Harry looked around, but couldn't see anything. He read the parchment again.

' _Dear Harry,_ ' it read.' _I know of your nighttime travels throughout the castle. I also know that they are against Hogwarts rules. If you wish for the professors not to hear about them, I highly recommend that you go to the deserted classroom on the Third Floor at 2 o'clock today. If you do not appear, I will have no choice but to go to the professors with what I know._ '

Harry definitely didn't want to get in trouble. He had been in enough trouble this year already, and Snape had already warned him that if he even heard a rumour that Harry had been wandering out of bounds at night in the castle, then he would make sure that Harry was expelled. Harry didn't want to risk it. He knew that Snape was always true to his word when it came to making Harry's life a living hell.

* * *

When Ron awoke, he saw that the room was empty – Harry had already gone. He rolled out of bed, and stumbled to the bathroom. When he returned, he yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes. He picked up off the floor all of the clothes that he'd kicked everywhere in his effort to get to the bathroom. In the middle of the pile was a small piece of parchment.

' _Dear Ron_ ', he read. ' _I know of your nighttime travels throughout the castle. I also know that they are against Hogwarts rules. If you wish for the professors not to hear about them, I highly recommend that you go to the deserted classroom on the Third Floor at 2 o'clock today. If you do not appear, I will have no choice but to go to the professors with what I know._ '

"Ha, ha, ha", Ron said. "Very funny. Fred. Or George. Whichever one of you is doing this, come out now. I know it's you, and I also know that you always stay to make sure the 'target' has picked up the 'bait'". There was no reply.

"Come on. Show yourself", Ron said again. But this time, there was an unmistakable sound of pleading in his voice. While Ron was sure that it was one of his brothers' pranks, he didn't want to risk it. What if whoever wrote the letter was serious, and did tell the professors. His parents would be so disappointed. They always expected him to be just like Percy, but if they got another letter from the school about Ron breaking the rules... Ron shuddered to think what they would do. He may get another Howler.

* * *

After lunch, Ron made sure to leave early so that he could ditch Harry. He didn't want Harry involved in this. Ron told Harry that he was feeling sick, and wanted to lie down. He rushed up to the third floor, and got there just before 2 o'clock. He faced the door, and saw another parchment stuck on it.

' _Welcome. Inside this room is another person. You must have sex with this person if you want there to be no consequences. If you do this, my business with you will be done._ '

Ron shrugged. Most likely, Fred and George would be hiding in there to surprise him. He opened the door and stepped into the dark room. There was a sound from within, and Ron couldn't see or hear anything.

* * *

Harry made his way slowly to the third floor. He wanted to make sure that no one saw him or followed him. He reached the door and read the note stuck on it.

"No, no", he whispered, nearly running back up to the Gryffindor common room. But his sense of pride kept him there. This would make sure that no one told on him. And the person who wrote the note said that they wouldn't bother him after this. He opened the door.

* * *

George saw Harry's silhouette in the doorway. Next to him, Ron was standing quietly. He had gotten tired of yelling himself hoarse once he realised that he couldn't even hear himself. Quickly, he muttered some spells under his breath. He heard Harry yell as his vision and hearing cut off at once. Harry stumbled into the room.

George had made sure to use this specific room. While it was an abandoned classroom, and still had a chalkboard, the tables and chairs had all been moved out to be used in other classrooms. This meant that Harry and Ron couldn't hurt themselves too much.

George began to move towards the door. Harry was stumbling around the room. As he reached it, Harry bumped into Ron and fell on top of him. Both of them yelled (though of course, neither of them could hear the other). George smiled. He left the room, locking the door behind him. He'd check on them in an hour.

* * *

In the room, Harry was lying on top of someone else. He couldn't see or hear anything, so he had no way of knowing whom he had fallen on. Harry felt around a bit and then blushed. He now knew that the person he had fallen on was male. Definitely male. The other person was flailing, trying to get out. He accidentally kneed Harry in the balls. Harry rolled over in pain and yelled out loud.

"That hurt!" he yelled at the stranger. There was no response. That could be because he couldn't hear anything. He tried again.

"Let's just get this over with", Harry said, hoping that at least the other man could hear him. He crawled around and felt the figure on the ground. He, very deliberately, placed his hand on where he thought the man's penis was. Harry felt the person freeze. It seemed like he had hit the right spot. He moved his hand up and slid it beneath the man's pants. He grabbed the man's penis, and jerked it around. The man sat up. A hand reached out and pulled Harry's hand out of the pants.

* * *

Ron was just standing innocently, after exhausting his voice yelling when suddenly, someone cannoned into him, pushing him onto the ground. Ron moved around, and tried to push the person off him. Eventually, they just rolled off. He lay on the ground, waiting to see what the other person would do.

Soon enough, Ron felt a hand touch his chest and then slowly move its way around his body. Then, it touched his penis. Ron froze. This was a bit embarrassing. He didn't like not being able to see or hear anything. The hand didn't stop, though. After a bit of groping, it slid itself into Ron's pants and underwear and began to squeeze his penis. Ron swore out loud. He could tell that the person was trying to masturbate him, but they seemed to be failing. Ron gently removed the hand from his pants and opened them up. He moved around so that he was facing where he thought the person was sitting. Then he took the hand again, and placed it on his penis. This time, the hand was much more gentle.

Ron decided that he should reciprocate, as etiquette would dictate. He followed the hand to the arm and then down to the person's crotch. Like him, the person had a penis. 'Oh well', Ron thought to himself, resigned. He felt around and undid the other man's pants' button, and, with some help, lowered them. Then he took the man's penis in his hand and began to jerk it.

* * *

Harry was a bit surprised when the man first put Harry's hand back on his penis, and then got Harry's pants off so that he could do the same to him. Harry thought about the strangeness of the situation. Here he was, sitting in a room, unable to see or hear, and masturbating someone else. It was definitely not something that he expected that he would be doing today.

Soon enough, Harry felt the man's penis begin to lengthen and harden. Before long, it was fully hard and Harry could feel that it was a bit longer than his (closer to 20 cm compared to his 16 cm). The constant stimulation to his penis soon made him hard as well. Hopefully, they'd be able to finish soon.

However, Harry had a bit of an issue. While the note had said that they had to have " _sex_ ", it hadn't been specific to what would have to be done. He didn't want there to be any room for this person who wrote the notes to say that he hadn't done enough. And when he asked this out loud, he predictably got no reply.

'I feel like I should cover all bases', Harry thought to himself. 'Just in case.' So after the two of them had been masturbating each other for a significant amount of time he leant over and took the man's penis in his mouth.

* * *

Ron and the other man were jerking each other for a few minutes. Ron felt arousal spread throughout his body. He blushed and hoped the other man wouldn't notice. His penis got larger and larger, lengthening as his arousal grew. In his hand, Ron's counterpart was growing as well.

A few more minutes passed. Then the hand on his penis disappeared, and was soon replaced with... a mouth!

"Bloody hell!" Ron swore out loud. This was unexpected.

The man's tongue slid up and down Ron's penis before it was fully engulfed by the mouth. By this time, Ron was blushing, as only a Weasley knows how. If he could see himself in the mirror, he would have seen that his whole face and neck were bright red. He was also annoyed. Whoever this other person was, he was making sure that Ron did what he said. If Ron didn't do what the man did, Ron surmised, then the man would do what he was threatening. Ron shuddered. He didn't like this, but he felt that he head no choice. He moved to the side, and began to suck the man's penis.

The feeling was like nothing that Ron had ever experienced before. He wasn't used to having something so large in his mouth. Now the other man was more turned on than before, Ron could tell. His penis had gotten even harder. Then he began to thrust. Ron wasn't expecting it the first time. He gagged and pulled away. When he regained his breath, Ron returned to sucking the penis. The second time the man thrust into his mouth Ron was more prepared. He managed to move his head back just in time to prevent him from gagging. He put his hands in the man's bare arse. This was a good warning indicator for the thrusting. When the man was going to thrust, he clenched his arse cheeks together. This gave Ron enough time to move his head back before the penis was thrust too far into his mouth.

While this was happening, Ron thought about what was going to happen. 'The letter said that we had to have sex', he thought to himself. 'But if only one of use is receiving, that should be fine, I guess. I just hope that I'm not the bottom.'

* * *

Not long after Harry began to suck the other man's penis, he felt the man reciprocate. He wasn't surprised. It seemed like the man was just copying what he was doing.

It felt really good. This other man definitely knew what he was doing. Harry moaned into the penis in his mouth. He never thought himself as gay. But anything sucking his penis felt great, whether the person was a man or a woman.

Harry felt the cool hands of the other man resting on his arse. Harry and the man continued to suck the other one's penises. Soon, Harry felt a wet finger work it's way towards his arsehole. He wriggled, trying to escape the finger, but to no avail. The finger continued to move in and soon was tickling his hole itself. Harry tried to buck and turn to escape the finger, but nothing worked. He found himself lying directly on top of the man. The finger continued to work it's way into Harry arse. Finally, it was in. It was a strange feeling. There was a bit of stinging, due to the stretching to the muscle in ways that it normally wasn't, but it also sort of felt good. The finger worked its way down to the first knuckle and then moved slowly in and out. Harry groaned. It actually felt quite good.

Then, another finger joined the first one. Harry tried to protest, but his mouth was full. The second finger finally managed to squeeze itself in. It hurt a bit, but in a way that mixed pleasure and pain. The fingers moved around moving in and out. Suddenly, the fingers reached a spot. Harry saw stars. It felt so good when the man's fingers hit that spot. The fingers wiggled around again, and soon enough, they hit the same spot. Harry knew that he was close to coming. With the mouth on his penis and the fingers in his arse, it wouldn't take long. When the fingers hit that spot a third time, Harry tipped over the edge. He thrust into the man's mouth, and unloaded all of his come. Spent, Harry rolled over, off the other man.

* * *

Ron thought that it was a genius idea for him to finger the other man. Although he didn't want to think about where he fingers were, he knew that, inevitably, the next step would be anal. At least, he could manage to be the top if he played his cards right. Ron managed to force two fingers in and moved them around. He knew that the man liked it – the thrusting increased in intensity. The man had also rolled onto Ron. This was a bit of an issue. Each thrust was tickling the back of his throat. While he didn't gag, it was annoying.

Then, without warning, the man began to come. This time Ron did gag. The man thrust more intensely that before and his penis was deep into Ron's mouth as the man unloaded all of his seed into it. And Ron couldn't move. No matter how hard he tried, in this moment of passion, the man was too strong for him. Ron was struggling to breathe. He felt his mouth was all clogged up with come. Ron had no choice but to swallow. If he didn't, he would not have been able to breathe.

Finally, the man finished coming and rolled off him. Ron sat up, annoyed. He definitely wanted revenge on that dirty trick! Ron felt around, and soon located the other man. He was lying on his stomach on the ground next to Ron. Ron helped him onto his hands and knees. The man was still recovering from his orgasm, and didn't even have the energy to protest Ron's movements. Ron felt the man's arse, and without a second's hesitation, plunged his penis into it.

* * *

Harry screamed in pain. Of course, he couldn't hear himself, so he wasn't sure if he really did. He had been lying down, exhausted, when the man began to move him around. He hadn't protested. There seemed like there was no need. What Harry hadn't expected was for the man – without any preparation – to shove his penis into him. Harry could feel tears pushing themselves out of the corners of his eyes. This was a bit too much. He hoped that it would not take too long.

Luckily for Harry, it didn't. Obviously, Harry's mouth had given the man's penis a good enough workout (and also, possibly because his arse was so tight), that in less than a minute, the man came inside Harry. The man pulled out and moved away. Harry slumped down defeated. At least it was all over now, he hoped.

* * *

George looked at his parchment. He had been eyeing it since he had left Harry and Ron in the classroom for some sort of change. He looked away, idly, and looked back. Finally it had changed. The parchment now read ' _Congratulations on completing your challenges!_ '.

George rushed down back to the classroom. He unlocked the door and saw Harry and Ron both lying, spent, on the floor. He stunned them both, and removed the spells he had placed on them. Then he tiptoed to them and whispered " _Obliviate!_ " into their ears. He didn't want them to remember anything.

* * *

Harry woke up with a headache. He looked around. He remembered walking towards the classroom on the Third Floor, and then... nothing. He groaned and stood up. His arse hurt for some reason. 'Probably from when I fell over the other day', Harry thought to himself. He walked out of the classroom and hurried back to the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

Ron woke up and looked around. He was inside a broom cupboard. How strange. He didn't remember going to sleep in a broom cupboard. All he remembered was going to the deserted classroom on the Third Floor. Ron licked his lips. There was a strange taste in his mouth. Sometimes you just couldn't trust the Hogwarts food. The house-elves must have done something to it. He felt a bit sweaty. Ron stood up, left the broom cupboard, and went to have a shower.


	13. Cormac II

Cormac was getting sick of these challenges. He felt that they all seemed to be targeting him! First someone had stolen his clothes after Quidditch. Then he had been attacked in the greenhouse, and someone sabotaged him during the race around the lake. Finally, someone had taken his photo of Laura. That was the last straw and he wanted his revenge. Cormac snickered nastily when he read his challenge. ' _Targets: Fred and Lee. Challenge: Put them under the Imperius Curse_ '.

'Perfect!' Cormac thought.

Cormac was sure that Fred and Lee were specifically the ones responsible for tripping him up in the race, and come to think about it, the twins and Lee were probably the ones who had done the rest. He would pay them all back. It didn't bother Cormac that he would be using one of the Unforgivable Curses. He didn't think that they were actually that bad. Well, maybe  _Avada Kadavra_ , the Killing Curse, was bad, and he been told that the Cruciatus Curse was pretty painful, but had the Imperius Curse actually hurt anyone? It was just changing their minds a bit. There was nothing wrong with that. It was like having a long and reasonable discussion with someone ending with them changing their minds – without having the discussion. It was more efficient. It was only because of those bureaucratic wizards and witches at the Ministry of Magic that people had any issues with it!

Cormac chuckled to himself. This was going to the be fun.

* * *

It was nearing the end of the holidays. Cormac was waiting for the perfect moment, but he realised that he had to act soon if he wanted any chance of winning.

An opportunity came on Thursday night. Harry and Ron had run off after dinner – probably to the library to finish (and start) their holiday homework. Fred, George and Lee had left not long after, discussing something about nosebleeds in hushed tones. Cormac was the last one at the table. He finished eating desert, and watched the plates disappear off the table. Full, he wandered slowly up to the Gryffindor Tower. Maybe he could also do some homework. And maybe, the other boys would be up there and he could finish his challenge.

As Cormac opened the portrait hole, he could hear voices come from within.

"What do you mean, it doesn't work?" he heard Fred ask, incredulously. "It has to!"

"It just doesn't", George replied, sullenly. "Have you tried doxy eggs?"

"Of course! It was one of the first things I tried!"

Cormac slipped his wand out of his pocket. This may be his only chance.

"How about salamander blood?" said Lee. "That's meant to have some healing properties."

"Maybe, maybe", Fred said, quietly. Then he caught sight of Cormac standing in the portrait hole. He narrowed his eyes.

"Are you spying on us?" Fred said nastily.

"No", Cormac replied quickly. But it was too late. The three boys pushed past him and walked briskly away. Cormac heard Lee muttering angrily as he left.

Cormac was devastated. He had been so close to being able to complete his challenge.

* * *

By Saturday, Cormac was starting to get worried. There was only a day left to finish the challenge, and he had had no head start at all. He really hoped that there would be some chance for him. The issue was that people had started coming back from holidays. Term started again on Monday, so some  people had returned early. This meant that there were more people around, and it was much harder to catch the boys alone.

Cormac was sitting glumly at the entrance of the common room. He could see that Ron and Harry were being told off by Hermione for not finishing their homework. Some first years were playing Exploding Snap in front of the fire. Cormac scowled. He didn't like losing, especially not to the Weasley twins. They definitely would never let him forget it.

As if on cue, Fred, George and Lee walked down the stairs from their room. They crossed the common room, and headed to the door, next to where Cormac was sitting. As they passed, Cormac heard part of their conversation.

"— so I told him, 'Do you remember that time that Moody turned you into a ferret? Well it could happen again!'" George said. All three of them laughed.

"You should have seen his face", George continued. "It just went all pale, and he hurried away. Just like that."

"Anyway, lets move", Lee said. "We need to get on with the potion, and you know that curfew's at 10."

The boys hurried off.

Before Cormac registered, he had stood up and moved towards the door. He stepped through it into the silence of the outside corridor and stopped. He definitely didn't want to be seen. The three boys would not treat him well if he was. Quickly, Cormac cast a Disillusionment Charm over himself, and hurried after the three boys.

Cormac followed them to the sixth floor, and then to a room that Cormac was sure he'd never noticed before. There was a sign on the door reading "DANGER! DO NOT ENTER!'. Lee, Fred and George ignored the sign and entered it. Cormac followed them silently in.

It turned out to be a disused bathroom. Along the far wall, there were a number of dilapidated cubicles and a urinal. There were also some sinks and faucets around a circular pillar in the centre of the room. What was most noticeable, though, were the large number of what seemed like snacks and sweets scattered around the room. In one corner, there was a cauldron sitting over a fire. The orange liquid inside it was simmering gently. Fred, Lee and George approached the cauldron. Fred sorted through a pile of potion ingredients next to it, and pulled out a small vial of clear liquid.

"Here it is!" he said triumphantly. "The Venomous Tentacula juice." He opened the vial and poured half of the contents into the cauldron. George lifted up his wand and waved it over the cauldron, mixing it. The liquid momentarily turned purple and turned back orange. Fred emptied the rest of the Venomous Tentacula juice into the cauldron. The liquid turned completely purple and stayed that way. 

Cormac decided to grab his chance. He pointed his wand and whispered " _Imperio!_ "

"— it could be nearly ready", George was saying. And then he stopped mid-sentence. Lee and Fred stopped what they were doing as well.

Cormac chuckled to himself. It worked! He was a bit surprised it was so easy, but he wasn't complaining. He walked over to the three boys and waved a hand in front of their faces. There was no response, not even a blink of dilation of their pupils. It was a bit creepy. Cormac pointed his wand at Lee. Lee did a star jump. Then Cormac pointed his wand at George, and George did a somersault. The boys were doing anything he thought of!

Cormac's mind was working fast. He was thinking of all of the fun things that he could do. What he really wanted, though, was to humiliate them. For revenge, of course. Also, he just wanted to have some fun. He had been cooped up with them for the past two weeks.

The three boys still hasn't moved. Cormac looked at them thoughtfully, deciding on his course of action. He took out his wand and waved it in the air. A gramophone on a table appeared out of nowhere. He played it and a horrible Muggle tune rang out. Cormac was sure that he had heard it at the start of the year on the way to Diagon Alley. He grimaced. But at least it suited his purpose.

Cormac waved his wand at Fred. Fred instantly stepped forward, and began to dance. Cormac smiled and waved his wand again. Fred danced over to Lee and proceeded to use him as a pole. A third wave of the wand, and things started to happen. Fred began, very slowly, to remove his scarf, which he draped around Lee. He then removed his sweater in a way that even Cormac would have said was sexy, if you could get him to admit it. It was an improvement, at least in Cormac's eyes, that Fred was no longer wearing that hideous Weasley sweater. Fred continued to give Lee a very provocative striptease, with a lot of thrusting and rubbing himself on Lee. Finally, when Fred had hooked his fingers over the waistband of his boxers, Cormac sent Fred back to where he had been standing.

Cormac decided that it was now Lee's turn. A wave of his wand caused Lee to walk towards George. Once he reached him, Lee grabbed the other Weasley sweater and began to pull it up. Cormac waved his wand and Lee froze.

"No, you don't", Cormac said condescendingly, under his breath. "You have to do that with your teeth."

With no choice but to obey, Lee struggled to remove George's sweater with his teeth. When that proved to be difficult, Cormac let George help Lee by raising his arms to make it easier for Lee. After a painstakingly long time, Lee had gotten most of George's clothes off. Again, Cormac left the Weasley in his boxers.

Once Lee had returned to where he was, Cormac waved his wand at Fred and George. They silently approached Lee. Cormac decided to have some fun. When Fred and George were holding onto Lee, Cormac removed the spell.

"Let me go!" Lee yelled. He struggled to free himself, but to no avail. Fred and George combined were just too strong.

"Who's doing this?" Lee asked. Cormac didn't reply.

Soon enough, Fred and George had forcibly stripped Lee if his clothes. When Lee was down to his briefs, Cormac stopped Fred and George and reinstated the spell on Lee. Cormac waved his wand, and Fred, George and Lee silently stripped out if their underwear. Cormac now had three naked boys at his command.

Cormac waved his wand again. Fred and George turned to one another and kissed full on the mouth. Cormac nearly laughed out loud. He had so much power and there was nothing they could do! Another wave got Lee down on his knees, and taking Fred and George's penises in his mouth one at a time, sucking them until they got hard. One of Lee's hands was made to jerk himself.

Once all three boys were suitably hard, Cormac made Fred kneel and take Lee's penis into his mouth. Cormac had Lee grab Fred's head and thrust deep into his mouth. George was lying of the floor and sucking Fred's penis.

Suddenly, Cormac had a genius idea. He conjured three razors, and (with only a bit of influence from Cormac) the boys lay on the floor in a triangle, their heads positioned at the next boys crotch. Cormac handed out the razors, and slowly, the boys shaved off each others pubic hair. This would be a fun surprise of them!

When they had finished, Cormac got the boys to give the other ones a blowjob, and soon enough, the boys came simultaneously, deep into each other's throats.

Cormac now wanted release himself. Watching the three boys suck each other off had been satisfying, but it had left Cormac was a raging boner. With a wave of his wand, Cormac made the three boys kneel in front of him. Then he selectively removed his Disillusionment Charm from his groin area. He looked down and chuckled. All he could see were three boys kneeling in front of a penis that seemed to be floating in midair. Another wave of the wand got the three boys starting to lick and suck at Cormac's penis. Cormac groaned this felt good. But it wasn't enough. He still wanted to humiliate them.

'I want them to beg!' Cormac thought to himself. Then he smiled. He had the boys under the Imperius curse. He could do anything he wanted with them. Soon enough, in between sucking at Cormac's penis, Fred, George and Lee would look up at where Cormac's face would have been if it were visible, and say something like, "Please, sir, may I suck some more?" or "Please, sir, pleasure me more!". All this nearly made Cormac laugh out loud. 

When Cormac felt that he was close, he called the boys off. He got George to kneel on his hands and knees, thrusting his arse into the air. Then he got Lee to go behind him, and with one big movement, thrust his penis inside George. George was so much under the influence of the curse that he didn't even yell out. Cormac then got Fred to got behind Lee, and push into Lee as well. Cormac looked at his handiwork. The three boys were fucking each other! But Cormac also wanted to get some action. He stood behind Fred, and then thrust into him.

Cormac stood there, letting Fred impale himself onto his penis, carried by the momentum of the fucking further on in the chain. 'This is hot!' Cormac thought to himself.

Eventually, all four boys were getting close. Then, George, with a groan came onto the floor. Like a chain reaction, George cumming caused Lee, and the Fred to cum. As Fred came, his arse tightened around Cormac's penis, and Cormac came as well, deep inside Fred's arse.

Cormac pulled out of Fred, who collapsed on the floor. Cormac, with the rest of his strength, cleaned up Fred, George and Lee, got them to dress, and then erased their memories (a specialty spell of his). As Fred, George and Lee woke, and picked up their conversation as if nothing had happened, Cormac slipped away, back to the Gryffindor common room, and slumped onto his bed. He took out the parchment, and with the last of his energy, read " _Congratulations on completing your challenges!_ "


	14. Epilogue

The six boys gathered around a windowsill in the Gryffindor common room. It was the only place in the crush of students who had returned from the holidays that they could find because it was too cold with the open window. In front of them sat the goblet.

"Well?" Cormac said impatiently. "When is it going to pronounce a winner?"

Lee rolled his eyes. "It'll do it in its own time", he commented.

The boys waited some more. Still nothing happened. George turned to Fred.

"Are you sure that you set it up correctly?" he asked, quietly.

"Of course."

Nonetheless, Fred tapped the goblet. It hiccuped. The boys took a step back.

"Erm", began Ron. "Was that meant to—"

He stopped. The goblet had begun to spurt red and yellow flames. Harry took a risk and peered inside.

"It looks like something's forming in there", he commented. "It could be a piece of parchment," he added, doubtfully.

The flames intensified. The boys took another step back. In the middle of the flames a shape had risen from the goblet.

Behind the boys there was a bang. This was followed by a shout of "Nooooo!" coming from Neville. Trevor the toad sailed over the boys' heads, and just before he hit the window, a leg clipped the goblet. The boys saw the goblet teeter on the edge of the windowsill. As if in slow motion, the goblet tipped over the edge of the window, into the night outside.

The boys ran to the window and looked outside. They arrived just in time to hear a thunk and a crack, and see the light of the goblet's flames gutter out. Fred turned around.

"Who did that?" he asked angrily. A small first year, his face red, raised his hand. Fred sighed and turned away. George and Lee followed him towards the fire. By this time, Neville had run up and was cradling Trevor in his arms. He noticed Harry and Ron.

"Hi Harry. Hi Ron", he said. "How were your holidays?"

Before they had a chance to reply, Cormac butted in.

"What does that mean?" he asked angrily.

"It's all over", Harry told him, and turned to Neville, leaving Cormac to fume by himself.

Unseen by anyone else, a charred fragment of parchment floated down to the ground. By the next morning, the snow that had managed to get in through the window and melted had made the writing on it unreadable. 


End file.
